Provide scenarios of use based on personas - at least one per person in the group.
Scenarios are descriptions of problems that currently exist - not related to your proposed redesign.
From this determine requirements based on the MoSCoW framework.
Scenario One:
The climate is an unexpected phenomenon in which humans have no control of. Unpredictable and unfavourable climate like high temperature, low rain fall generally discourage serious gardening activities. Just two years ago, we had an extremely dry summer (Rush, 2007). The lack of water led to the demise of crops around the area. Depending on your location, natural disasters can occur. Natural disasters like flood, drought etc. may occur and this will reduce the ability to grow crops productivity.
One of the biggest problems with growing crops is controlling pests and diseases. Pests generally damage the crop and leave it uneatable along with diseases such as fungi (www.gardenguides.com). They also generally reduce the quantity, quality of crops leading to less fresh crops (food consumption) and possibly income (selling crops). It is important not to spray chemicals to gardens as it can be counterproductive. There are two types of bugs, good and bad. The good bugs eat the bad bugs and help your garden. By spraying chemicals in your garden, you disrupt the natural balance in your garden. The spray may help temporarily but there is a high chance of pests returning (www.beneficialinsects101.com).
There has been a tremendous increase of costs in farming. The costs of fuel and fertilizer have more than doubled in the past couple of years along with equipment. These are the basic necessities needed for the production of crops. The economy has still not recovered from the recession and the cost of fuel is not going to go down in price anytime soon. The production of corn, used for making ethanol, is heavily dependent on the availability of fertilizer for high yields. Therefore fertilizers are in high demand (www.farms.com).
Overall the one benefit of using chemicals is that it costs less than manure. There is a high chance of chemicals running off into waters nearby and contaminating them. This will impact animals, plants and even humans in negative ways because the chemicals have a way of getting around to them. Therefore the uses of chemicals are not needed in the future of growing crops in backyards.
Scenario Two:
To execute the design, layouts will be drawn and there will be study groups used. An impact analysis can clearly identify impacts and implications of various trends, events, or decisions. For example, locally, Cam McDonald is an example of a backyard farmer, who makes use of other people’s property (with permission) to farm. McDonald has produced enough food in an average urban backyard to feed 70 people (Tracey, 2009). Excessive food may be stored for some time in order for soil to be rejuvenated. In addition to McDonald’s backyard farming experiment, drip irrigation will be combined in order to preserve water and prevent runoff.
Drip irrigation will direct water right to the roots of the plants. This way, less water will be wasted and a sufficient amount will be absorbed. The drip irrigation system will be made from a garden hose with a perfectly spaced line of holes. This device will spread out from one end of the garden to the other. The drip irrigation system will applied to each row of plants, which allows for a slow but effective penetration and equal dispersion. There are many benefits to drip irrigation:
Saves water, and money. Drip irrigation can distribute a precise amount of water to the roots of plants. With no overspray or evaporation loss as compared to sprinklers, this help backyard farmers save money on water bills.
Eliminates runoff and erosion. Water is penetrated through the soil, directly to the roots of plants. This eliminates puddles and over-saturated ground to prevent misquotes from breeding. Owners will also have full control of the amount of water used.
Controls weed. Water is delivered below the surface of the soil, leaving no water for weeds to grow.
Low cost. Not only does drip irrigation save on water bill, but it is also an inexpensive tool. (Northern Garden Supply, 2004).
In order to evaluate the design, a conceptual model will be put in place in an effort to predict the effects of backyard farming. A good conceptual model should consist of an organized layout of operations and results and a consistent system image. A continuous effort will be put out to monitor the process if anything should go wrong, there will be room for improvement. With the use of integrated design processes, performance goals must be established while considering all stages of redesigning farming. Commissioning practices need to be used to verify performances. There will be continual feedback from those who participate in the backyard farming program to seek improvement. The design will be taken to a bigger scale.
Scenario Three:
Soil erosion is a common problem that we are surrounded by consistently on a daily basis from small to large areas of land. Soil erosion occurs as “the soil particles being shifted around due to the devastating impact of rainfall, wind and ice melt.” (www.landscapeplanet.com). Once this starts to occur, the minerals and nutrients which are needed to grow plants, flowers and vegetation are left with poor quality soil which prevents healthy growing for these plants, due to the lack of nutrients needed and supplied by the soil.
With this in mind, we can take soil erosion prevention methods by protecting the soil and preserving the necessary essential which are needed for the growth of healthy plants, flowers and vegetation. There are many different methods and approaches which can be taken to prevent this from occurring, but it is quite difficult when there is more soil being lost then what can be naturally produced. This problem and many other factors which are entailed with soil erosion are lead by natural weather patterns which cannot be avoided, but when precautious measure are taken we can limit the amount of soil erosion occurring to protect and conserve as much as possible.
Some simple prevention methods can lower the amount of soil erosion which occurs. Such as planting vegetation creates a protective shield to lessen the impact of weather related conditions as there is less soil exposed. Also matting lets you to use wood fibres and spread them over the soil which will help prevent soil erosion and will work in an environmental friendly way. Another method includes mulch/fertilizing will allowing the water to soak in slowly keeping the soil moist, and retaining walls and edging which prevents and retains the soil in the garden bed, not allowing it to run near surrounding areas when wet. Taking simple measure as such, we can prevent the occurrence of soil erosion and problem occurring from it. Moscow Framework:
Must Have:
Drip irrigation tool will be made from simple house hold items (garden hose)
Willing people to support urban farming
Volunteers to provide tutorials on how to make household tools without paying extra money to encourage more people to join the agricultural revolution
Soil rejuvenation time; the winter months after last harvest around October, will allow the soil to rejuvenate its nutrition
Should Have:
Fertilizers and pesticides can be mixed within the drip irrigation system, in which will be organic, made from household products
Drip irrigation can come in different patterns of dripping
Could Have:
Leftover food and food not suitable for eating can be used as compost allowing for zero waste
Can be produced locally which can cut pollution from transportation
Want But Won’t Have:
Year round moderate farming temperatures; Canadian society cannot be solely dependent upon backyard farming as the Canadian climate is not suitable for all variety of crops
If society is solely dependent upon only crops grown locally, human may lack many vital nutrients. Also, there are on average of five months of winter and harsh temperatures in
Canada and many crops cannot be stored for an extensive amount of time, leading to a shortage of food. Perhaps during these times, crops can be imported from neighbouring countries, such as the United States to prevent a long distance transport to decrease human’s carbon footprint.
Provide scenarios of use based on personas - at least one per person in the group.
Scenarios are descriptions of problems that currently exist - not related to your proposed redesign.
From this determine requirements based on the MoSCoW framework.
Scenario One:
The climate is an unexpected phenomenon in which humans have no control of. Unpredictable and unfavourable climate like high temperature, low rain fall generally discourage serious gardening activities. Just two years ago, we had an extremely dry summer (Rush, 2007). The lack of water led to the demise of crops around the area. Depending on your location, natural disasters can occur. Natural disasters like flood, drought etc. may occur and this will reduce the ability to grow crops productivity.
One of the biggest problems with growing crops is controlling pests and diseases. Pests generally damage the crop and leave it uneatable along with diseases such as fungi (www.gardenguides.com). They also generally reduce the quantity, quality of crops leading to less fresh crops (food consumption) and possibly income (selling crops). It is important not to spray chemicals to gardens as it can be counterproductive. There are two types of bugs, good and bad. The good bugs eat the bad bugs and help your garden. By spraying chemicals in your garden, you disrupt the natural balance in your garden. The spray may help temporarily but there is a high chance of pests returning (www.beneficialinsects101.com).
There has been a tremendous increase of costs in farming. The costs of fuel and fertilizer have more than doubled in the past couple of years along with equipment. These are the basic necessities needed for the production of crops. The economy has still not recovered from the recession and the cost of fuel is not going to go down in price anytime soon. The production of corn, used for making ethanol, is heavily dependent on the availability of fertilizer for high yields. Therefore fertilizers are in high demand (www.farms.com).
Overall the one benefit of using chemicals is that it costs less than manure. There is a high chance of chemicals running off into waters nearby and contaminating them. This will impact animals, plants and even humans in negative ways because the chemicals have a way of getting around to them. Therefore the uses of chemicals are not needed in the future of growing crops in backyards.
Scenario Two:
To execute the design, layouts will be drawn and there will be study groups used. An impact analysis can clearly identify impacts and implications of various trends, events, or decisions. For example, locally, Cam McDonald is an example of a backyard farmer, who makes use of other people’s property (with permission) to farm. McDonald has produced enough food in an average urban backyard to feed 70 people (Tracey, 2009). Excessive food may be stored for some time in order for soil to be rejuvenated. In addition to McDonald’s backyard farming experiment, drip irrigation will be combined in order to preserve water and prevent runoff.
Drip irrigation will direct water right to the roots of the plants. This way, less water will be wasted and a sufficient amount will be absorbed. The drip irrigation system will be made from a garden hose with a perfectly spaced line of holes. This device will spread out from one end of the garden to the other. The drip irrigation system will applied to each row of plants, which allows for a slow but effective penetration and equal dispersion. There are many benefits to drip irrigation:
In order to evaluate the design, a conceptual model will be put in place in an effort to predict the effects of backyard farming. A good conceptual model should consist of an organized layout of operations and results and a consistent system image. A continuous effort will be put out to monitor the process if anything should go wrong, there will be room for improvement. With the use of integrated design processes, performance goals must be established while considering all stages of redesigning farming. Commissioning practices need to be used to verify performances. There will be continual feedback from those who participate in the backyard farming program to seek improvement. The design will be taken to a bigger scale.
Scenario Three:
Soil erosion is a common problem that we are surrounded by consistently on a daily basis from small to large areas of land. Soil erosion occurs as “the soil particles being shifted around due to the devastating impact of rainfall, wind and ice melt.” (www.landscapeplanet.com). Once this starts to occur, the minerals and nutrients which are needed to grow plants, flowers and vegetation are left with poor quality soil which prevents healthy growing for these plants, due to the lack of nutrients needed and supplied by the soil.
With this in mind, we can take soil erosion prevention methods by protecting the soil and preserving the necessary essential which are needed for the growth of healthy plants, flowers and vegetation. There are many different methods and approaches which can be taken to prevent this from occurring, but it is quite difficult when there is more soil being lost then what can be naturally produced. This problem and many other factors which are entailed with soil erosion are lead by natural weather patterns which cannot be avoided, but when precautious measure are taken we can limit the amount of soil erosion occurring to protect and conserve as much as possible.
Some simple prevention methods can lower the amount of soil erosion which occurs. Such as planting vegetation creates a protective shield to lessen the impact of weather related conditions as there is less soil exposed. Also matting lets you to use wood fibres and spread them over the soil which will help prevent soil erosion and will work in an environmental friendly way. Another method includes mulch/fertilizing will allowing the water to soak in slowly keeping the soil moist, and retaining walls and edging which prevents and retains the soil in the garden bed, not allowing it to run near surrounding areas when wet. Taking simple measure as such, we can prevent the occurrence of soil erosion and problem occurring from it.
Moscow Framework:
Must Have:
Should Have:
Could Have:
Want But Won’t Have:
"Canada: Farm Fuel And Fertilizer Expenses." Farms.com – Latest Agriculture Information, Farming News, Commentary, Weather, Auctions, Markets & New Products Portal. Web. Mar. 2010. <http://www.farms.com/FarmsPages/Commentary/DetailedCommentary/tabid/192/Default.aspx>.
"Good Bugs Gone Bad." Beneficial Insects 101. Web. Mar. 2010. <http://www.beneficialinsects101.com/good-bugs-article.html>.
"Hoop House Farming: Pest Management | Garden Guides." Garden Guides, Your Guide to Everything Gardening. Web. Mar. 2010. <http://www.gardenguides.com/video-66321-hoop-house-farming-pest-management.html>.
"Landscape Planet | Landscape Maintenance – Soil Erosion Prevention. Web. Mar. 2010. http://www.landscapeplanet.com/maintenance-1-soil-erosion-prevention.htm
Northern Garden Supply. (2004). International Development Research Centre. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from Growing Better Cities: http://www.idrc.ca/in_focus_cities/ev-95353-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
Rush, Curtis. "A Dry Summer Will Make for a Dull Fall." The Toronto Star [Toronto] 5 Sept. 2007.
Tracey, D. (2009, August 18). The Tyee. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from Why Urban Farming is the Future: http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/08/18/UrbanFarmingFuture